News Round Up

Eoghann said:

A lot of people think it does though.

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eXo said:

How many deviations from normal are we supposed to go to make the world obvious for people who have no common sense? If Disney can't be fantastical for fear of someone taking it literally, then by god we need to get Dora off TV before our friends to the south start thinking it's ok to wander into our country with their talking maps and monkeys. 'MURICA!

PS: I'd love to see this woman's thoughts on the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

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eXo said:

Says who? You?

Please show me a source, any source, that shows people are treating Disneyland as some sort of historical reference.

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Eoghann said:

I suspect that not only are the comments from this woman lacking context because we're not seeing them in the show, but that additionally people on here are viewing it through an overly narrow lens. Here's the program description:

Media historian Susan Douglas explores how Walt Disney, through his television program and Disneyland, presented Americans with an idealized version of their country.

That doesn't actually sound like an argument that theme parks shouldn't be escapist to me.

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skier_pete said:

I wouldn't call it "wrestling". My immediately thought was "No way!", but then for about 5 minutes I thought about that maybe it would be worth it. We never seem to be at Disney for any of the unique events that take place there, so just for a bit I was thinking about it's only $50, but rapidly I returned to "No way!"

I'll save my money for my $80 Hawaiian shirt at the Poly and my $12 drink at Trader Sam's.

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DDLand said:

To comment once, as not to pollute the thread...

I'd say that just as escapist as Disneyland was, his television shows are just as escapist. Showing a world where good people with excellent morals rise above an enemy or natural odds and succeed. That's not really reality most of the time. Escaping from a world where in the years prior 100s of thousands had died in a global conflict. Escaping from a world where the United States had just accepted not total victory, but a stalemate with thousands of casualties in the process. Escaping from a world where communism could keep spreading. Escaping from a world where a bomb could fall from the sky and end it all.

She ignores the context of the era. Duh American's were looking for an unrealistically happy or positive view of America, that's because the world wasn't all that great back then. It's easy for us today to criticize them for not being self deprecating enough, but it's also unfair too.

If you want an accurate picture of America, Davy Crocket or Main Street USA may not be the best place to start. If you want a fun safe way to pass the time, they're perfect.

It is true that even the most progressive Disney Theme Park Animal Kingdom, stopped short of ever in its full glory attacking the American lifestyle. There are subtle jabs in the stories told, but never outright. Who knows if that's the next frontier or not, but I certainly don't hold it against Disney.

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DDLand said:

To comment once, as not to pollute the thread...

I'd say that just as escapist as Disneyland was, his television shows are just as escapist. Showing a world where good people with excellent morals rise above an enemy or natural odds and succeed. That's not really reality most of the time. Escaping from a world where in the years prior 100s of thousands had died in a global conflict. Escaping from a world where the United States had just accepted not total victory, but a stalemate with thousands of casualties in the process. Escaping from a world where communism could keep spreading. Escaping from a world where a bomb could fall from the sky and end it all.

She ignores the context of the era. Duh American's were looking for an unrealistically happy or positive view of America, that's because the world wasn't all that great back then. It's easy for us today to criticize them for not being self deprecating enough, but it's also unfair too.

If you want an accurate picture of America, Davy Crocket or Main Street USA may not be the best place to start. If you want a fun safe way to pass the time, they're perfect.

It is true that even the most progressive Disney Theme Park Animal Kingdom, stopped short of ever in its full glory attacking the American lifestyle. There are subtle jabs in the stories told, but never outright. Who knows if that's the next frontier or not, but I certainly don't hold it against Disney.

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lockedoutlogic said:

You're not likely to get into trader sams...

Remember they added 300 timeshares units...and a 50 seat bar.

"Fuzzy math" in my book

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rteetz said:

All of those effects that don't work are because of laziness. Look at the paperboy in SSE. Oh let's just turn him around so no one can see he doesn't work...

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eXo said:

The lines in the sand as to what folks can or can't voice an opinion about are remarkably fluid.

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lockedoutlogic said:

Yeah... They're are about as off the wall as the all the false equivalencies and unwarranted credit/praise...

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skier_pete said:

The fact is everyone has there limit. There's very little at Disney that is a "Value" anyways right? So it's all what you are willing to spend.

You blinked at a $450 room decor that someone else might just say "sure it's a splurge but it's worth it to see the expression on my kids faces". There's plenty of people out there with (what appears to be) money to burn. Enough people do it that Disney justifies the price.
I personally have found that the hard ticket events are a HUGE ripoff - yet there's hundreds of thousands of people that think they are more than worth it, thus the prices increasing by more than 120 % in less than 10 years and yet people continuing to go.

The only way it stops is if people say "I've had enough I'm just not doing it."
That's why in the end I decided NOT to do the Star Wars Merchandise event. At first I thought "No Way", then I thought "but I can afford $50", but finally I thought "Where does this end? I am NOT paying for them to allow me to buy stuff I can buy for free in a few days." I'm taking that stand.

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Eoghann said:

I suspect that not only are the comments from this woman lacking context because we're not seeing them in the show, but that additionally people on here are viewing it through an overly narrow lens. Here's the program description:

Media historian Susan Douglas explores how Walt Disney, through his television program and Disneyland, presented Americans with an idealized version of their country.

That doesn't actually sound like an argument that theme parks shouldn't be escapist to me.

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